


Happy Accident

by pitstopcrew



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Coming Out, Established Relationship, F1 season 2020, Fluff, Jos Verstappen's A+ Parenting, M/M, Max and Dan quarantine together, Oneshot, nothing but fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:29:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24649507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pitstopcrew/pseuds/pitstopcrew
Summary: Max and Dan hold hands. Things happen.
Relationships: Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen
Comments: 2
Kudos: 111





	Happy Accident

**Author's Note:**

  * For [simplyverstappen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplyverstappen/gifts).



> So I was bored... and i did this thing.  
> Hope you enjoy this! :)

Has it really been three years since Dan kissed Max? Somehow time has flown by and Max can‘t believe how long it has actually been.  
Dan makes him feel things. Things that Max never felt, that he doesn‘t even know to describe. Dan supports him, he makes him smile, he just radiates happiness and Max soaks it all up.  
And if Max is being honest he would say that their relationship improved a lot after Dan left RedBull. Sure, they got to spend so much time together and being at RedBull was what made them fall in love after all but since Dan went to Renault the media backed off of them, there was no constructed rivalry anymore which did kind of impact their relationship.  
So yeah they are a lot happier now and while spending quarantine together was definitely a challenge they fell into an easy routine. Working out, going grocery shopping, taking long walks… All of it together and Max loves it.  
All they had to do these last few months was to stay fit and do an occasional media appearance – of course Dan is much more active on social media and for the time being Max is absolutely content to stay behind the camera, maybe take some of Dan‘s pictures. Quarantine has really brought out some unexpected talents in both of them – Max even bought a digital camera and Dan has really brushed up on his cooking skills (which was SO necessary because Max has no idea how to cook and he really didn‘t want to bother Dan‘s mom so much – she had been super sweet about them from the start but that‘s still no excuse to rely on her for food).  
„Hey, we need to go grocery shopping!“. Max looks up from his laptop, having scrolled through the recent pictures he took of Dan sleeping – he just looked super cute and the cellphone camera couldn’t exactly capture all that cuteness.  
„Sure“. Max shrugs. „Write up a list and then let‘s go!“. Dan grins and nearly runs back to the kitchen to put together the list. 

Masks on, Privacy off. It‘s the usual drill when they go out in public. Sure, there‘s not much going on and Dan‘s farm is pretty far off so the grocery shop they always go to isn‘t well visited and the people who buy there usually aren‘t the kind of people to watch Formula 1.  
Max is content to just push the shopping kart around while Dan basically runs around the store, throwing things into the cart and asking Max‘ opinion on food he wants to cook or stuff he wants to buy. This time it‘s a truly horrible black shirt with a flamingo pattern but Max just nods and smiles because he loves Dan (even if this shirt looks shit – or maybe especially).  
„Thanks babe“. A split second after he said it Dan‘s eyes widen and he realizes what he said. They look around, trying to not look suspicious but no one is in their aisle. „I‘m so sorry“. Dan slides his hand into Max‘s and gives it a squeeze. „It just kinda slipped out“.  
Max nods. „It‘s alright, no one heard or saw us“. And when Dan wants to pull away Max tightens his grip on Dan‘s hand because why not. There‘s probably no one but them in this damn grocery shop and maybe he‘s just been to caught up in his perfect little bubble with Dan but would it really be THAT bad to just… sometimes Max just hates the secrecy and if this was a better world he would have asked Dan years ago to come out with him and to stand by their relationship but sadly life isn‘t so easy and the consequences would be severe… their teams, the FIA, Max‘s Dad… yeah he doesn‘t even want to think about. 

Things kind of escalate the following day. They slept soundly through the night, arm in arm but shortly after their morning coffee everything goes to… well not shit, but it isn‘t really good either.  
When Max picks up his phone he has 37 missed calls from Christian Horner, a text message in all caps from his sister (‚WHAT THE FUCK MAXY‘), 6 voice mails from his Dad and a few others that are equally confusing. Whatever it is, Victoria should probably hold her breath because hearing she is pregnant was also a big wtf moment in his life, Max thinks.  
„Babe, have you looked at your phone already?“. He hears Dan‘s voice from the bathroom.  
„Yeah, I‘ve got like twenty thousand messages and missed calls. What happened?“. He slowly goes to the bathroom while scrolling through his phone.  
„Someone saw us yesterday“. And the phone hits the floor. For a few seconds Max can‘t think, his head is empty. And then it hits him. Someone saw them. Someone saw them holding hands, someone heard Dan call Max Babe.  
„Maxy?“. He inhales, exhales. Inhales again. „Are you okay?“. He nods and then presses out a quick „Yeah“when he realizes Dan can‘t see him yet.  
„Yeah I think I‘m okay…“. Dan appears in the door frame and his concerned look makes Max hurt a little. „It‘s my fault. I wouldn‘t let you go, it felt so good holding your hand and I…“.  
„No!“. Dan takes two big steps towards him, draws him into his arms. „No! None of this is your fault. If it is anyone‘s fault it is mine. I said babe so that‘s on me!“. Max takes a second to reply.  
„It‘s not your fault either, my love“Max says gently. Dan snorts.  
„Okay let‘s agree it‘s that dude‘s fault who saw us. Fucking stalker“. Max laughs a little.  
„What do we do now?“. He doesn‘t even want to see the article or the picture – he just wants to know the strategy.  
„How about we both call our PR guy and maybe call our bosses back? And then we‘ll work out what to do together“. Dan is weirdly calm and it calms Max too. „I mean, we could simply deny it? They don‘t even know it‘s us. We were in private clothes, we both were wearing caps and masks so you don‘t even really see our faces. They‘re just speculating“. Dan shrugs and smiles a little. „We can deny it… if you want“. He stares so intensely into Max‘s eyes that it makes Max shiver. Is that what he wants? Is it really what he wants? He thinks back to the day before, about how nice it was to hold Dan‘s hand in public, to just be a normal couple. How nice it would be to just always hold Dan‘s hand and to kiss him and to call him love. For a brief moment he imagines them both on the podium celebrating their victories with a kiss, maybe even getting MARRIED… just being with Dan forever – what a life, what a dream. So no, denying it is not what he wants but is this really about what he wants? Isn‘t it more about what he should do? What is expected of him and maybe even right? Or is it right? Why does everyone assume being straight is the default human setting?  
Max sighs.  
No, it isn‘t right to hide your identity, to stay in the closet, to not be who you are. People should be able to live their lives as they want to – whether they are gay or straight or cis or trans or muslim or jewish or christian or whatever. Why is it anyone‘s business how someone lives their life, whom they love?  
Max just wants to live his life and be in love with Dan. Is that really too much to ask?  
Halfway through his pretend thought-argument he realizes Dan is still waiting for an answer.  
„No“he says and swallows hard „no, i don‘t want to deny it. I want to be with you and I don‘t care if people know. It‘s not anyone‘s business anyway“. And he looks up to Dan who has the biggest grin on his face that Max has ever seen on him.  
„I was hoping you would say that“. And suddenly Max finds himself in a deep kiss with his boyfriend that he eagerly reciprocates.  
„So what is our strategy?“Max asks after letting go of Dan.  
„We tell them it‘s us and we want to go public and they can suck our dicks“. Max snorts.  
„I‘d rather the only person to suck your dick is me“he jokes and Dan laughs.  
„That much I can promise you, babe“. And he winks suggestively.  
„So it‘s settled? We call our people and then we issue a statement?““. Dan nods and suddenly feeling much lighter they both run of to call their bosses and PR people. 

It‘s not necessarily a shit storm that rains down on them but it isn‘t one hundred percent positive either.  
They basically told Christian Horner and Cyril Abiteboul to shut up and accept their decision and that didn‘t go all that well – they got a big telling off for being irresponsible and being outed like this but in the end that‘s all that was negative.  
They worked out a joint statement with their PR guys which reads quite nicely – at least that‘s what Max thinks. It tells a little love story of two guys who love race cars and each other and it warns every person off who wants to do them harm (‚our lawyers will be monitoring the situation etc etc‘) and Max just hopes his dad understands that that includes him as well. Because Jos Verstappen hasn‘t exactly been very happy about the whole thing but Max has learnt a long time ago to ignore what his father says, to not let it get to him.  
Vicky was over the moon, gushing over Uncle Maxy and Uncle Danny, making them promise to  
teach her unborn child how to drive a kart as soon as it‘s safe (Dan found the whole thing hilarious).  
Dan‘s parents were supportive but they already knew about the relationship so that wasn‘t that big a deal.  
Their Formula 1 colleagues have all since spoken out on social media or in interviews, showing their support in various forms (Lewis being the most extravagant – posing in a pride flag).  
McLaren Team coach Zak Brown assured Dan in a very charismatic interview that his future team is also in support of him outing himself and showing his identity.  
All in all, the official people were all supportive – maybe because they have to or maybe because they really want to – Max doesn‘t care, he‘s just glad he has everyone‘s support.  
The internet on the other hand… Max doesn‘t really wanna think about it. People are assholes sometimes.  
He thinks back to a few weeks ago when Lando posted the BLM hashtag on his stream and lost quite a few followers so if he‘s being honest with himself, he kind of expected one or two comments on the net but some of them hurt a lot. He has Dan though so he‘s rising above it all, he‘s better than them and he won‘t give them the satisfaction to know that they hurt him. All these people writing slurs and insulting him and Dan are just bigots, idiots and dicks and he doesn‘t want do dwell on what they say. So he doesn‘t.  
Instead he concentrates on the season that‘s gonna start in a few weeks and on testing and on his relationship with Dan. And he‘s feeling good. Life is good. He‘s got nothing to worry about except taking that damn championship from Lewis. He can‘t bloody well let him win it a seventh time.


End file.
